Saturday, November 26, 2005

What on Earth is the Orthodox Church?

* On the one hand, it is the oldest Church in Christendom. On the other, it is new to most people in North America

* It is the second largest body in Christendom, with 225 million people worldwide. But in the US and Canada, there are less than 6 million.

* In the 20th century alone, an estimated 40 million Orthodox Christians gave their lives for their faith, primarily under communism. So high is the commitment of many Orthodox Christians to Christ and His Church, she has often been called "the Church of the Martyrs."

* She is the Church of some of history's greatest theologians, scholars, and writers, people like St. John Chrysostom, St. Justin Martyr, St. Gregory Palamas, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, and Alexander Solzhenitsyn...

(from a brochure by Conciliar Press)